Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun. The Japanese. They’ve brought North America
 |
| You can't turn down a ride like this if you like cars. (Photo: Kevin Wang, Canadian Auto Press) |
some goods most of us just couldn't live without, or for that matter resist. Sushi, PlayStation, manga, anime, electronics of all sorts, Samurai swords, Pocky, Beard Papa's natural cream puffs, and cars - Arigatou gozaimasu (thank you very much). Cars are what my editorial staffers and I are all about (sadly – Ed.), and, given the opportunity to test drive one that’s particularly special, Acura’s fun-loving CSX Type-S, would be difficult for any petrol-blooded automotive journalist to turn down. I didn’t.
Acura, Honda Motor Company's luxury automotive division introduced the all-new CSX back in 2006. The CSX, like the EL (1997-2005) and Integra sedan (1986-1996) that came before, is only available in Canada. As many may know, the TSX is the Honda Accord in Japan and Europe, but not all may realize that the CSX is the Honda Civic in Japan, or rather the other way around. You see, Honda of Japan favoured the looks of our CSX (penned in Canada) so much that they decided to adopt it as their new Honda Civic. And it’s not hard to see why. The CSX, in my humble opinion, is a much more appealing visual statement than the Civic we have available to us here in
 |
| Wheels are sharp looking. (Photo: Kevin Wang, Canadian Auto Press) |
North America. And not only that, it features front- and rear-end styling cues that appear to be much more at home on JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) turf than on Canadian soil, which is fine by me.
When Acura dropped production of the RSX back in 2006, and more importantly the RSX Type-S, Acura fans became Honda fans with the then-new Civic Si Coupe. But just a year later that all changed when Acura introduced the Type-S version of the CSX for 2007, in conjunction with the release of the four-door Civic Si in the US. And, for 2008, nothing much has changed except that the Civic Si Sedan is now available here, offering a slightly different flavour of super-fast fun. The Acura version still costs $33,400, and it still is as good as it was before. Type-S is Acura's high-performance model designation, much like it is with Dodge's SRT and Mini's S. So, it was no surprise when Honda decided to drop the Civic Si Coupe's marvelous K20Z3 engine into the bay of the CSX and tack a Type-S badge on the trunk lid.
 |
| Aluminum pedals are the real deal. (Photo: Kevin Wang, Canadian Auto Press) |
Producing 197 horsepower and 139 lb-ft of torque from a 2.0-litre 16-valve DOHC inline-four, the engine features Honda's famed i-VTEC variable valve timing and lift electronic control resulting in an 8,000-rpm redline (fuel cutoff is at 8,300 rpm). Words simply can't explain the feeling experienced as the engine revs past the magical 6,000-rpm mark, the point at which VTEC kicks in. Not only can it be felt, but it can also be heard. It's the philharmonic gone mechanical, a cacophony of intake and exhaust valves, crankshafts, spark plugs, pistons, lobes, and camshafts, but on crack cocaine. It's brief, but you'll get to experience it six times as you shift your way up the superb short-throw six-speed manual gearbox. Despite missing the odd shift or two due to the tight spacing of its double-H pattern, it's one of the best manual gearboxes in the business.
But as many of you are aware, straight-line performance sometimes isn't as important in the real world as how a car handles in the curves and bends.
 |
| Fire-breathing K20 engine exits through this pipe. (Photo: Kevin Wang, Canadian Auto Press) |
And since we're dealing with Acura's Type-S, we've got nothing to worry about. Handling is its specialty. The Type-S features a helical limited slip diff, larger 27 / 17 mm diameter anti-roll bars front and rear (24.2 / 11 mm in the regular CSX), and a sport-tuned MacPherson strut suspension up front with a sport-tuned double-wishbone suspension out back, all of which contributes to exceptional handling, enhanced by standard Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with Traction Control. This is a car you can honesty throw hard into pretty well any corner no matter the road condition and not worry about it playing tricks on you. The suspension is firm and the ride is taut, as a result. You'll feel almost every minor imperfection on the road, but it's not so stiff that it becomes unbearable. The ride isn't bone-jarring, but I'll go so far as to say you may never again need that cup of coffee in the morning.
The handling is absolutely precise and direct, while the steering ratio is extremely quick. It's so quick to respond, in fact, that you might find yourself wondering why you have to work twice as hard for the
 |
| Like a Civic Si, but with the luxury features and toys. (Photo: Kevin Wang, Canadian Auto Press) |
same results in most other cars. If there’s anything to complain about in terms of its road manners, it's the braking and tire combination. According to owners who have raced their own CSX Type-Ss around tracks, complaints have been made in regards to excess smoke and brake fade during and after hard, continuous laps. But for regular folks who don't intend to race it on weekends, the Type-S may only need to undergo such torturous braking forces during panic stops around town. And hopefully you won’t experience such situations very often, if ever. But if you happen to be facing a potential accident where you'll need all the braking force you can get immediately, the CSX Type-S comes standard with Brake Assist (BA) that applies full force on the binders on your behalf. And it's a feature that doesn’t come standard, nor is it available at all on regular CSX trim levels. Of course, like all CSX's you get four-wheel disc brakes with ABS and Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) too, but even with better-than-average brakes you'll need better-than-average tires to grip the road, and here's where Acura could have done better. The standard equipment 215/45R17 87V Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 tires are just average. The Tire Rack (www.tirerack.com) categorizes
 |
| You can't get leather buckets on an Si, but you can get the CSX Type-S with hides. (Photo: Kevin Wang, Canadian Auto Press) |
this tire as an All-Season Grand Touring, which is midrange in terms of all-seasons. In the US a Honda Civic Si can be equipped with Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 summer performance tires for an extra $200. A small price to pay, but a significant performance gain, albeit. Acura may say that the Canadian market is different (i.e. much colder) and therefore all-season tires are necessary, but some of us don’t live in the Snow Belt, and therefore don’t need to worry as much about slippery road conditions. Others prefer the benefit of four true winter tires during the cold months, and the extra grip real performance tires offer in the spring, summer and fall.
As you're taking on those twisty mountain roads, I’m sure you'll appreciate the well-bolstered leather seats that are both firm and supportive. They're not overly firm, mind you, so you should remain in comfort during long-distance road trips. Those black hides also feature very stylish white high-contrast stitching, and the leather isn’t the grainy type often used in entry-level compacts. It's smooth as paper, soft as a feather, and similar to the Nappa leather commonly found in BMW's M vehicles. The front seats feature Type-S badges embossed into the seatbacks, and leather, but of a different texture, can also be found in the door panels and armrest.
Like all Civics, and therefore CXSs, you'll find plenty of storage space for all your personal items, and two very well designed cupholders up front and another two integrated into the foldable armrest in back. If it hasn't already been awarded, I'd nominate the designer of these front cupholders for an Edward N. Cole Award for Automotive Engineering Innovation. If this were a Subaru, I'd say these are the cupholders every engineer wish they'd built. They're perfect. Each one incorporates four spring-loaded tension prongs that prevent even the narrowest water bottle from tipping over, yet at the same time they’re able to accommodate the widest water bottle I could find. And because the cupholders are just a bit deeper than they’re wide, even tall bottles stay securely in place. Call me a
 |
| Vroom and a view. (Photo: Kevin Wang, Canadian Auto Press) |
perfectionist, but not all cupholders are designed this way, and Honda/Acura deserves an A+ for putting their resources into doing it right.
During the week, for the first six days actually, I didn't like how the door locks functioned. I didn't mind that the doors would lock themselves whenever the vehicle reached 15 km/h, actually preferring this to having to lock them myself. What I didn’t like, however, occurred every time I switched off the engine. Only the driver's side door would unlock. In fact, my girlfriend, sitting in the passenger's seat, finally got around to pushing the unlock button on her door every time she exited the vehicle, like an automatic reflex. It was annoying, because sometimes she'd hit the power window switch instead, and we'd have to sit there in the car waiting for her to roll up the windows before we could leave. Fortunately, a brief flip through Acura's extremely useful Quick Start Guide and a solution was found. You can easily program the doors to unlock the driver's door or all doors at the same time, or to turn the feature off altogether. It's all programmable in a matter of seconds, and I would have thought I'd have to take it down to the dealership to get it done. A thumbs up to Acura for this, although I wish I'd found out sooner. Then again this bit of information has paid off again, because as I'm writing this story I've got Honda’s Civic Sedan DX-G in the garage, and the first thing I did when I got it was reprogram the door locks.
As I mentioned before, the Acura CSX Type-S sells for $33,400. There's nothing else to add to it, because Type-S models come fully loaded. But, as you'll read later on, 'fully loaded' is a term used far too often these days and, really, you can't take it literally. In addition to what has already been mentioned, the Type-S features unique 17-inch multi-spoke dark silver aluminum-alloy wheels, a 350-watt AM/FM/single-CD premium audio system with MP3/WMA capability and seven speakers, including a subwoofer and a digital card reader, a GPS navigation system with bilingual voice recognition, and steering wheel-mounted controls, Type-S floor mats, a large single exhaust pipe, fog lamps, HID xenon headlights, a rear spoiler with an integrated LED brakelight, red LED lighting in the front footwells, a centre console, extra
 |
| The four-door for redline enthusiasts. (Photo: Kevin Wang, Canadian Auto Press) |
gauges in the instrument cluster, and XM satellite radio. It surely packs in a lot of features, and when compared to a $26,680 Honda Civic Si Sedan, the $6,720 premium suddenly doesn't seem like a whole lot more. And that's not even considering the more upscale Acura badge. But I feel Acura could have added auto-dimming mirrors, auto-on/off headlamps, power adjustable seats with lumbar support, an interior trunk closing assist handle (dirt and fingers don't mix well), and possibly changed the automatic climate control to adjust half a degree at a time rather than in whole degrees. Okay, maybe that last one is a bit out of hand, but at least I tried.
So, there you go, the CSX carries a $6,720 premium over an Si Sedan, but it also carries a $6,410 premium over the base CSX, and more relevantly a $3,410 premium over a CSX with the Technology package; and for $29,990 you don't get nearly as many features as you do with the Type-S. But even if you did, you're still driving along in a 155 horsepower version of the same motor with a much tamer 6,800 rpm redline. And that’s OK if a five-speed automatic is the way you want to go, but you won't find anything so domesticated in the Type-S. It's built for the enthusiast.
Specifications (CSX Type-S):
-
Price Range: $33,400
-
Price as Tested (MSRP): $33,400
-
Type: 4-door sedan
-
Layout: front engine, FWD
-
Engine: 197 hp, 139 lb-ft of torque, 2.0L, 16-valve DOHC I-4
-
Transmission: 6-spd manual
-
Brakes (front/rear): disc/disc, ABS, EBD, BA
-
Dimensions (L/W/H/WB): 4,544 / 1,752 / 1,435 / 2,700 mm (178.8 / 68.9 / 56.4 / 106.2 in)
-
Curb Weight: 1,310 kg (2,888 lbs)
-
Tires: 215/45R17
-
Capacity (trunk): 340 L (12.0 cu ft)
-
Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 10.2 / 6.8 L/100 km
-
Warranty (mo/km): 48/80,000 comprehensive - 60/100,000 powertrain
-
Competitors: Audi A3 2.0T, Chevrolet Cobalt SS Turbo, Dodge Caliber SRT4, Mazdaspeed3, Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V, Subaru Impreza WRX, VW Jetta GLI, Volvo S40 T5
-
Website: www.acura.ca
|
